Artist Review: The Bee Gees

This week's artist review is on an old and often tragically misunderstood band, the Bee Gees. Consisting primarily of a trio of brothers, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, the band was founded in 1958, had its first major successes in the late sixties, and was only disbanded when Maurice Gibb died in 2003.

So, why are the Bee Gees so misunderstood?

Well, the answer is pretty simple - many people, maybe even most, think of them as a band that primarily performed disco. Thinking of a Bee Gees song, the first that might come to mind is Night Fever or Staying Alive, both very famous songs of the disco genre of music.

This is tragic because the Bee Gees volume of work encompasses a great deal of genres outside of disco, and they only really performed disco during its height in the late seventies. They began their success as a group similar to the Beach Boys or the Beatles, and only shifted to disco after

Anyways.

The Bee Gees are an excellent example of the use of multiple vocal bits and harmony to produce a unique sound. The three brothers are all distinct in sound, but they mix them well, and often to very different effect. For instance, Barry, the falsetto of the group, was the primary and most distinctive member during the era of disco, while the deeper voices of the other brothers were much more prominent in earlier music.

Outside of the vocals, the background music tends to be fairly simple and straightforward. Not that this is a bad thing, of course - the Beatles, among the most successful musical groups of all time, did very few songs that included technically difficult instrumental or vocal parts.

And, as per usual, some links...

Night Fever, To Love Somebody, Jive Talkin', and Give Your Best.